Island Estates

The brief

Island Estates was an established estate and lettings agency in Kensington, but its generic branding did little to reflect the quality of its service or the owner’s ambition to become a leading agency in the area. The brief was to create a distinctive identity that could compete confidently with larger, better-known names.

The owner arrived with one clear idea: he wanted a lion in the logo. It was a strong starting point. My role was to turn that instinct into a coherent brand, with a visual language that could work across every part of the business.

The creative approach

The lion became the central idea behind the identity, not simply a device for the logo. Its associations with confidence, authority and heritage made it a natural fit for a Kensington property business, while giving the brand a distinctive symbol that could be recognised at a glance.

From that starting point, I developed a visual system designed to work at every scale — from stationery and property brochures to street-level boards, window displays and the website. The aim was to create a brand with presence and character, without sacrificing clarity or practicality.

The lion became more than a logo. It was the idea that brought the whole identity together.

Building a brand for the real world

For a property agency, the identity has to work well beyond a logo on a website. It needs to be clear and recognisable on a property board, persuasive in a brochure and confident on a high-street window. I designed the marque to reproduce cleanly at different sizes and across both digital and physical formats.

The visual language balanced heritage with a more contemporary feel. A classical serif brought a sense of establishment to the headlines, while a clean sans-serif kept the supporting information accessible. The colour palette was chosen to give Island Estates a stronger visual presence in a market where many agencies relied on similar conventions.

• A bold, adaptable marque designed for use across digital, print, signage and specialist production.
• A flexible brochure layout that could accommodate different property types.
• Brand guidelines to support consistent application by printers, signage suppliers and other partners.
• A clear website structure and property search experience suited to the Kensington market.

The outcome

The project gave Island Estates a distinctive identity built around a clear and memorable idea. The lion marque, supported by a flexible visual system, created a consistent presence across property boards, brochures, stationery, signage and the website.

It reflects an approach I still bring to brand work today: start with a strong central idea, give it a clear visual expression and make sure the resulting identity works wherever people encounter the business.